Favoring the "Chung Mong-gyu Club"?... Audio Recording of "Match-Fixing" Orders Revealed

[Anchor]
Suspicions have been raised that an active referee in South Korean professional soccer was incited to fix a match in exchange for financial compensation. An audio recording has been released showing a high-ranking official of the Referee Committee instructing a referee to make favorable calls for Busan, a club whose owner is former Korea Football Association President Chung Mong-gyu.

Reporter Lee Jeong-Chan has the details.

[Reporter]

Ahead of the final regular-league match in the 2023 K League 2 between Busan and Chungbuk Cheongju—where promotion to the top tier for the next season was on the line—the referee assigned to the match received a call from a high-ranking official of the Referee Committee.

[High-ranking official of the Referee Committee: I will give you a 2-million-won bonus, so wrap it up well. You know how to end it well, right? (Busan) must not be allowed to go to the playoffs.]

The official even suggested specific methods, effectively telling the referee to make biased calls in favor of Busan, which would secure automatic promotion to the first division with a victory.

[High-ranking official of the Referee Committee: (Opposing) two central defenders, hitting them with yellow cards right from the start, wouldn't that make things easier?]

The 2 million won corresponds to the allowance for a promotion-relegation playoff referee, making it plausible to infer that match-fixing was instigated in exchange for the match assignment.

In the actual match, Cheongju's two central defenders received yellow cards in the first half, but the match ended in a 1:1 draw, pushing Busan into the playoffs and ultimately failing their promotion.

As the Korea Football Association has launched an investigation, the person at the center of the allegations told SBS over the phone, "It happened three years ago, so I don't remember."

Separately, in July, it was revealed that a K League 2 referee had asked a referee participating in a high school tournament to favor a specific team, resulting in disciplinary action.

The Korea Professional Soccer Referees Association issued a statement promising "reform" once again, but did not deny the allegations of match-fixing incitement.

(Video Editing: So Ji-hye, Design: Hwang Se-yeon, Source: Office of Rebuilding Korea Party Representative Kim Jaewon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.